Sweepstakes-type games are well known. These games include lotteries and horserace betting. Sweepstakes are commonly used to promote the sale of magazines and books. In Europe and Latin America national sweepstakes games based on the outcome of soccer matches are very popular.
Computer systems exist for reading coded information directly into a computer memory so that the information can be processed by the computer.
In recent years computer controlled telephone equipment has been available which is capable of responding with verbal messages to distantly located telephone callers and to record in a computer memory information transmitted by the operation of touchtone buttons on the distant telephone.